Economic growth does not reduce the ecological intensity of human well-being

Recent analyses of sustainability emphasize the tradeoff between human well-being and stress placed on the environment as measured as the ecological intensity of human well-being (EIWB), a ratio of environmental stress to human well-being. Here, we examine the effects of economic growth on EIWB for developed and less developed nations over the last half century. We find that since the early 1970s economic growth has little effect on EIWB in less developed countries and leads to somewhat increased intensity in developed countries. This suggests that current trajectories of economic growth will be problematic for sustainability unless special steps are taken to reduce the unintended harm placed on the environment.